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Chemical Spills News

American Water has settled a class action lawsuit over the 2014 Freedom Industries chemical spill in Charleston, WV for $126 million – an amount which effectively equals the investor-owned utility’s annual revenues for West Virginia in 2015 ($129 million). CEO Susan Story explained on a conference call earlier today that the settlement will remove uncertainty surrounding the risks and ...

The utility whose leaking natural gas well has driven thousands of Los Angeles residents from their homes acknowledged that it understated the number of times airborne levels of the cancer-causing chemical benzene have spiked during the crisis. Southern California Gas Co. had been saying on its website and in emails to The Associated Press that just two air samples over the past three months ...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice today announced that a group of 40 parties have agreed to conduct the cleanup of the Cooper Drum site in South Gate, 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The settlement requires an estimated $15 million to construct the additional groundwater treatment system needed, including wells, piping and treatment costs, plus $7 ...

Original story at MIT News Catherine Drennan, a professor of chemistry and biology, likes to wax poetic about the complex chemistry of microbes. "I think they’re elegant and beautiful," she says. Of course, she also sees their practical applications. "I love the fact that these microbes can be used for bioremediation in ...

On September 16, BREEZE Software released an update to its powerful Incident Analyst application, an accidental chemical release and consequence modeling software designed to predict potential toxic, fire, and explosion impacts for chemical releases. The new release features important updates to ...

Oil spills at sea can be catastrophic events, with oil and discharged toxins, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, threatening marine wildlife and coastlines, damaging healthy ecosystems and harming livelihoods. A recent study found that using dispersants moderately decreased the number of cod eggs and larvae affected by spills off the Norwegian coast. Efforts ...

The National Chemical Emergency Centre (NCEC), has won a three year contract to provide the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) with emergency telephone advice – the contract includes global, multilingual support 24 hours a day, seven days a week as well as access to the NCEC’s hazardous chemicals database The MoD handles and transports various chemicals, such as fuel, as part of its ...

Four former chemical company executives and two lower-level employees have been charged in a January spill that contaminated a river and left 300,000 residents around West Virginia's capital without usable water for drinking and bathing for days. A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday charged ex-Freedom Industries presidents Gary Southern and Dennis P. Farrell and two others with failing to ...

The top executive charged in a chemical spill that left 300,000 people without drinking water lied about his role with the company to protect his personal wealth of nearly $8 million from lawsuits, according to an FBI affidavit. In bankruptcy court hearings and meetings, former Freedom Industries President Gary Southern repeatedly said he had little to do with the company before it was sold a few ...

The powerful chemical industry is putting its lobbying muscle behind legislation that would establish standards for chemicals used in products from household goods to cellphones and plastic water bottles - but also make it tougher for states to enact their own regulations. Many states already have acted on their own - and that's what's gotten the industry's attention. "Rather than be picked apart ...

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health, leading the largest health study ever conducted on the potential health effects of an oil spill, are encouraging participants to stay involved in this long-term project. All participants are being contacted for telephone interviews to update their health status. Those living within 60 miles of Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans also will be invited to ...

A Senate panel has cleared a bill that would boost state oversight of chemical storage facilities, following the West Virginia chemical spill. The Environment and Public Works committee in a bipartisan voice vote Thursday advanced the measure. The bill would require states to inspect chemical storage facilities regularly and to identify tanks near drinking water supplies. Companies would also ...

A House bill to overhaul federal oversight of the chemical industry would do more harm than good, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. The bill, introduced late yesterday by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), chair of the House Environment and Economy Subcommittee, would overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a 1976 law that is widely viewed as a failure. Daniel Rosenberg, senior ...

More than a month after chemicals seeped into West Virginia's biggest water supply, Jeanette Maddox would rather bundle up, drive to a shopping center parking lot and fill jugs of water from the spigot of a tanker truck than trust the tap in her kitchen. This is Maddox's new routine three times a week, what she considers a necessary burden to feel safe drinking water, cooking with it and making ...

According to miningsafety.co.za “Mining operations generate hazardous waste, transport and store petroleum products and other hazardous materials, and by law mining companies are required to prepare spill control and cleanup procedures and plans.” This means that mining sites must by law go through the same preparation procedures that other sites that may face a fuel or ...

Members of a House subcommittee pointed to the lack of toxicity and other data on chemicals that recently contaminated drinking water for hundreds of thousands of West Virginia residents as illustrating a key reason the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) needs to be revised. West Virginia officials had to scramble in early January after the chemicals leaked into the Elk River and got into the ...

The massive Elk River contamination in West Virginia last month highlighted a serious public health threat that requires systematic new safeguards in order to prevent similar accidents around the country, Erik Olson, senior strategic director for health & food at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told a congressional subcommittee today. The January incident, which tainted the drinking ...

AWWA and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies have sent a letter to the Senate Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife on how EPA and states can help water systems better prepare for emergencies such as the recent chemical spill in West Virginia. Among the key points ...

State officials and a water company strongly disputed a scientist's claim Wednesday that residents were likely breathing in traces of formaldehyde while showering after the chemical spill, saying the chemical that tainted the water supply only produces the carcinogen at extremely high temperatures. The dispute between the scientist and the ...

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